Employer-supported volunteering in

the civil service

A review by Baroness Neuberger, the Prime Minister’s Volunteering Champion
July 2009

13526 Baroness Neuberger 4th.indd 1 2/7/09 11:47:20

13526 Baroness Neuberger 4th.indd 2 2/7/09 11:47:20
 Contents 3

Contents

Prime Minister’s Foreword 4

Introduction 5

Context 6

Why encourage employee volunteering? 9

What are the problems? 15

Conclusions & recommendations 17

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 4 Employer-supported volunteering in the civil service Prime Minister’s Foreword

Prime Minister’s Foreword

In recent years, the Government

has invested in opening up
volunteering opportunities for
everyone – from the creation
of the youth volunteering
charity ‘V’ to our ambition for
all young people to undertake
service to their community;
from new initiatives to promote
intergenerational volunteering
to enabling jobseekers to
volunteer to help them prepare for work. But I believe that
government should lead by example, demonstrating the
value of volunteering not just through our policy-making
and investment but through the way we run our
organisations and manage our staff.

So I am delighted that for her final report in her role as

the Government’s Champion for Volunteering, Baroness
Neuberger chose to focus on employer-supported
volunteering within the civil service. As this report highlights,
employee volunteering in government can benefit civil
servants and their local communities, and above all it can
help improve the way government works by enabling civil
servants to engage with and understand the needs of the
public better and improve the services they offer as a result.

I am very pleased to hear of so many positive and

creative examples of volunteering already going on across
government and I hope that this report will help to inspire
us all to go further in bringing volunteering into the heart
of government.

July 2009

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 Introduction 5

Introduction

This is my final report as the Prime Minister’s volunteering ten in April 2009. This coincides with the Prime Minister’s
champion, and, whilst my previous reports focused on the and the Cabinet Secretary’s concerted push on employee
role of volunteers within public services, this report reviews volunteering, and the setting up of the central Volunteering
a different subject area. Both my previous reviews, of Group, administered by the Civil Service Capabilities Group.
health and social care and the criminal justice system, have
My analysis has focused on central Government, due to a
recommended that employee volunteering should be rolled
lack of time to review local government and NDPBs. But the
out and encouraged across the civil service. If volunteering is
benefits of employee volunteering are as relevant to local
to become really integrated into public services, then policy-
government, non-departmental public bodies, and other
makers themselves need both to experience volunteering
agencies of government such as PCTs. They will recognise
and to lead by example. The focus of this review is,
many of the challenges I have outlined here, and I hope very
therefore, on the role of employee volunteering in the civil
much that they will take my messages on board.
service and how it can be expanded and add greater value.

Like my previous work, this report offers a snapshot of the

state of employee volunteering within the civil service. It
provides recommendations to policy-makers as to how it
could be improved. It is not a thorough audit, nor should it
be read as a practical good practice guide for departments
who want to implement an employee volunteering scheme,
though I hope it will provide them with some inspiration.

For this purpose, employee volunteering does not include

any volunteering that civil servants do in their spare time in
no way connected to Government. However, my definition
is not overly restrictive. I would include any volunteering
that takes place during staff working hours (and this would
include volunteering outside working hours that is matched
with time off by the employer) and has in some way been
encouraged or facilitated by Government. The volunteering
can be self-organised and might often continue outside
working hours.

The snapshot is generally a positive one. Successful

employee volunteering should provide benefits to
departments, staff and communities. I have come across
some excellent examples of employee volunteering practices
within Government departments that do just that. Over the
past year, I have also detected an upward trend as more
and more departments have begun implementing their own
schemes. The Time and Talents project at the Westminster
Volunteer Centre reports an increased take up of their
service from four Government departments in April 2008 to

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 6 Employer-supported volunteering in the civil service Context
Context
Anecdotally, we know that many civil servants volunteer.
Much of this is done in their own time. My research has
found that nearly all Departments have some form of
volunteering policy, including paid time off to volunteer.
However, few departments have reliable data on how many
of their employees make use of this allowance formally.
Staff frequently use more informal routes. For example,
many managers, on an informal basis, allow their staff to
work flexibly to accomodate their volunteering, recognising
the benefits it can provide. The line between formal
employee volunteering and volunteering in people’s own
time is often somewhat fuzzy. Some departments have
embraced this informality and flexibility by, for instance,
having no formal allowance for paid time off and instead
allowing all leave at the line managers discretion. This
approach has produced tangible results in some cases
(see DCSF example).
Department for Children,
Schools & Families
DCSF’s volunteering scheme is located in the
Equalities and Diversity team. Their volunteering
strategy is linked to the five key objectives of
the children’s plan. Around 10% of their staff
have engaged directly with their volunteering
programme. Opportunities are sourced from a
number of organisations, though DCSF has a natural
link with schools. Volunteering is promoted, both as
a means of skills development and for better policy
development. There is no formal leave allowance
for volunteering. Staff are encouraged to find their
own opportunities, and leave is allowed at the
discretion of the line manager and the approval
of HR.
1
2007 National survey of volunteering and charitable giving by the Institute for Volunteering Research
Business in the Community
2
2007 National survey of volunteering and charitable giving by the Institute for Volunteering Research
3
13526 Baroness Neuberger 4th.indd 6
Broader picture
Outside the civil service, we know that, in 2007, 36% of
employees had an employer supported volunteering scheme
available to them. This has jumped since 2005, when 24%
of employees worked for organisations with such schemes
(and 18% in 2003).1 It is reported that approximately
70% of FTSE 100 companies have some kind of employer
supported volunteering programme 2. This is in marked
contrast to SMEs, with 20% of employees of medium sized
businesses and 14% of employees of small businesses
having an employer supported volunteering scheme 3.
In the private sector, the larger you are, the more likely
you are to have an employee volunteering scheme. This
relates in part to the increased emphasis amongst larger
companies on brand management for their profitability, and
the consequent need for a corporate social responsibility
(CSR) strategy. Government does not have this bottom line
driver to protect its brand, though it is, to a lesser extent,
concerned with public perceptions and reputation. There is
also an underlying presumption within the civil service that,
as an institution that operates in the public interest, rather
than for private profit, there is less need to prove that it is a
responsible organisation. This theme will be explored further
within this report.
Civil service volunteering
The Government has encouraged staff to volunteer on a
number of occasions. In 2002 special paid volunteering
leave was introduced in central Government Departments to
enable staff to take time off to volunteer. This was followed
by work in 2003- 2004, in which the Active Community
Directorate (now part of OTS, then part of the Home Office)
worked with a range of Government Departments to
develop volunteering strategies for Departments. These set
out how they intend to encourage their staff to volunteer.
The strategies were implemented with mixed success,
but led to the creation of a number of staff volunteering
programmes, including the one in the Home Office. There
was also significant work in 2005, the Year of the Volunteer.
2/7/09 11:47:22

During the year, the volunteering organisation Community
Service Volunteers were provided with funding by the Home
Office to work with a number of government departments
to create opportunities for staff to volunteer and refresh
departmental volunteering strategies.
Home Office
The Home Office recognises that staff who
undertake voluntary work not only benefit the
communities in which they live and work but also
bring back skills and experience into the workplace.
In addition, volunteering has an important part to
play in the personal development of staff.
The Home Office encourages its staff to undertake
volunteering opportunities in the community,
especially in those areas of activity which have links,
direct or indirect, to the delivery of Home Office
aims and policies. It does this by:
• Allowing up to five days (or the equivalent in
hours) paid leave to undertake volunteering in
work time. This can be done on an individual
basis or as part of a team.
• Recognising the importance of staff
volunteering for personal development by
embedding volunteering into the Personal
Development Plan of the staff appraisal system
– Performance Development Review (PDR).
• Regularly inviting charities and/or volunteering
organisations into Home Office buildings to
hold seminars or provide to set up stands to
distribute promotional material.
• Helping staff to identify suitable volunteering
opportunities.
13526 Baroness Neuberger 4th.indd 7
Context 7
• Promoting seasonal charitable activities,
such as:
oo Jeans for Genes Day
oo The Westminster City Challenge
• Promoting various volunteering opportunities
through features in the staff magazines and
on HOT.
• Providing funding for employees to participate
in the Prince’s Trust Team Programme, both as
Team Leaders and Team Members.
• Running an annual programme of up to fifty
3 – 6 month fully-funded secondments to the
voluntary sector.
In early 2008, the Cabinet Secretary wrote to all
departments, at the Prime Minister’s request, to urge them
to consider the importance of employee volunteering and to
ensure that they have a formal employee volunteering policy
in place. He also announced that a new cross-Government
volunteering group was to be set up in the Cabinet Office,
administered by the Civil Service Capabilities Group (CSCG)
and chaired by its head, Gill Rider.
The Civil Service Volunteering group was set up with the
following objectives:
• To ensure that all departments across government have
an approach to volunteering in the Civil Service which
is up to the level of the best, and
• To provide a vehicle for developing and sharing best
practice and informal information exchange.
2/7/09 11:47:22
 8 Employer-supported volunteering in the civil service Context

The group has so far begun to establish and share best

practice, encouraged an informal buddying system between
departments, collected initial data about departmental
levels of engagement in employer-supported volunteering,
and encouraged collaborative working with third sector
stakeholders. From my conversations with departments,
it appears that this group has been a very useful resource
for HR leads within departments. Its location within the
Cabinet Office, and within the CSCG, has been a crucial
ingredient to its success. For the success of employee
volunteering is crucially dependent on the extent of buy-in
and enabling of HR departments. The CSCG group, unlike
previous volunteering groups, has this vital reach within HR
departments, and has been able to equip HR leads with the
tools to implement good employee volunteering practice.

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Why encourage employee
volunteering?
I believe passionately in the power of volunteering. In
a previous role, as the Chair of the Commission on the
Future of Volunteering, I stated that I would like to see
volunteering become part of the DNA of our society. I
would like to see all civil servants taking part in volunteering
activities, so that they understand it and lead by example.
However, I also recognise that not all people share this
passion, and may be thinking, quite reasonably ‘what is the
business case for our department encouraging employee
volunteering?’ It is a fair question, especially, as like all the
business of Government, it concerns the use of tax-payers’
money. So, before analysing the challenges facing the rolling
out of employee volunteering, and how we can overcome
those challenges, I need to take a step back and explore
why it should be rolled out at all.
There is a real business case for employee volunteering that
can apply equally to all departments. Essentially, this boils
down to three main benefits:
1) Outreach and community engagement enables
government to be more responsive
2) Volunteering is in itself a way of enabling practical
learning and development
3) It boosts staff morale and builds teams
There are clearly other, broader, benefits for communities
and society as a whole.
1) Outreach and community engagement
enables more responsive government
The success of Government is dependent upon its
relationship with its stakeholders, and in particular, with
the communities it serves. If civil servants get out there and
are seen to engage with the communities they serve, this
enhances the reputation of a department, rather in the same
way as private companies develop CSR strategies. However,
there are in fact more important and complex reasons for
engaging with communities, that go beyond image and
reputation, and go to the heart of responsible government.
13526 Baroness Neuberger 4th.indd 9
Why encourage employee volunteering? 9
There is, as I stated earlier, something of a presumption in
the civil service that, as an organisation that operates in the
public interest, rather than private profit, there is less need
to ensure that the civil service is a responsible organisation.
Civil servants are duty bound to act in the public interest.
They develop policies and deliver services in the best
interests of the public. And yet how can they always know
what that public interest is? The accusation of the Whitehall
‘ivory tower’ is all too familiar and frequent. It unfortunately
remains true that some civil servants don’t really know, or
understand, many of the communities they are supposed to
be serving.
The civil service frequently engages in consultation, and it
often alludes to research and evidence based policy-making.
But volunteering can facilitate a more holistic approach to
policy-making. Volunteering has the potential to enable
civil servants to get to know service users in their own
environment, and it allows them to see things from their
perspective. The example of the Office for Disability Issues
shows a department really engaging with its service-users, in
a way that formal consultation and dry statistics could never
achieve. HMRC’s award winning volunteering programme in
Preston allowed civil servants new insights into their service
delivery, by viewing the world from the perspective of those
who were on the receiving end.
In my first two reports I recommended that civil servants
should volunteer in order to understand volunteering
properly and integrate it into policy-making. But it can also
be harnessed to help understand innumerable policy areas.
It may be viewed as a form of outreach or community
engagement. By engaging in such activities, by diversifying
staff experience and creating networks with potential
service-users and partners, departments will ultimately
develop better policies and deliver improved services.
At best, it can enable more responsible and more
effective Government.
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 10 Employer-supported volunteering in the civil service Why encourage employee volunteering?

Office for Disability Issues 2) Learning and development

A team of ODI staff recently embarked on a
volunteering project to help a Westminster self
advocacy group called Our Choice promote
their self-made DVD on bullying. The group
wanted to promote the use of their DVD to
other organisations of learning disabled people in
London as a tool to identify and stop bullying.
ODI staff helped the group to organise the launch
of the DVD including choosing a venue, deciding
on the agenda, preparing and practising a
presentation, putting out a press notice, contacting
other groups, and doing tasks on the day such as
teas and coffees, and registration.
The volunteers also supported Our Choice to invite
the Minister for Disabled People to speak at the
event, which was a great success. Groups of learning
disabled people from across London attended and
gave really positive feedback. They particularly
enjoyed speaking to the Minister.
Our Choice really enjoyed working with the
volunteers from ODI because they felt the event
was better for their support; they made connections
with other groups they had never met before.
The volunteers from ODI enjoyed the opportunity
to work with the people at whom their policies
are aimed, and they learned valuable lessons
about communicating accessibly. They felt that
they learned skills central to ODI’s need to be an
effective cross-government organisation with
delivery at its core, particularly in terms of its aim to
involve disabled people in its work and to develop
a strong sense of team. They were also able to use
information and advice from Our Choice by linking
them with policy makers working on hate crime.
Volunteering has long been recognised as a great way to
develop skills and learning. A recent survey of 261 people
who volunteered between 2000 and 2009 showed that
89% believed their employment prospects had improved
as a result.4 In a survey of KPMG staff who volunteered,
85% said they engaged to develop their skills in a non-work
environment. The top skills used sometimes or every time
they volunteered were: influencing skills (93%), integrity
(91%) and being adaptable (88%).5 Volunteering often
has the most impact on developing the softer skills – it can
build self-confidence and social skills, and enable individuals
to relate to more diverse groups of people. These are skills
it can be very difficult to pick up from traditional training
courses. It is a more practical form of ‘action learning’.
Certain departments are well aware of the development
potential of employee volunteering for their staff. The
Department for Transport recognises this and states that
volunteering is a key means of developing the core skills
outlined in Professional Skills for Government. They have
developed their scheme accordingly – responsibility for
employee volunteering resides with their Learning and
Development Team, and they are currently piloting a
mentoring programme in the local community that will
enable fast-streamers to develop the skills they need to
become managers in the near future (see example).

4
Community Service Volunteers, March 2009
5
KPMG, 2005

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Department for Transport
Volunteering in the Department for Transport is
run by the Learning and Development team, in
recognition of the role that volunteering can play in
developing skills in staff. Their volunteering strategy
is linked to their department’s strategic objectives
of enhancing access to jobs, services and social
networks, including to the most disadvantaged.
They offer staff up to 3 days per year to undertake
volunteering activity, and they have a contract with
Volunteer Centre Westminster to provide brokerage
and some bespoke schemes.
In partnership with the Volunteer Centre
Westminster they have introduced a six-month pilot
project for encouraging fast streamers to volunteer
as mentors to job-seekers living in a deprived area
of Westminster (the Churchill Gardens Estate).
Fast Streamers provide job seekers with guidance
on completing job application forms, CVs, and
interview techniques to help them back into the
job market.
The pilot also provides a good opportunity for fast
streamers to develop some of the softer competency
skills such as leadership, people management, and
communication.
The pilot was launched in February 2009 with 10
fast streamers trained as mentors. The scheme has
received positive feedback so far both from mentors
and mentees, and DfT is looking to roll out the
programme to other members of staff.
6
CSR and employees – Mori research, 2000
13526 Baroness Neuberger 4th.indd 11
Why encourage employee volunteering? 11
3) Boost staff morale and encourage
team-building
As well as enhancing stakeholders’ opinions of the civil
service, volunteering can also play a key role in enhancing
civil servants’ own views of their employer. A recent survey
by Mori explored the link between employee involvement
in CSR activities and their advocacy of the company. Two
thousand employees were asked the question: ‘Which
comes closest to your opinion of your company as an
employer?’ Respondents were ranked in terms of their
awareness of the company’s CSR programme. 82% of those
involved in their companies’ CSR programmes said they
would speak highly of them, whilst only 50% of those that
were not aware of their CSR programmes said the same6.
Employees involved in volunteering schemes may ultimately
be inclined to recommend the civil service as an employer of
choice. A recent survey of Barclays’ volunteering scheme by
IVR found that more volunteers than non-volunteers would
recommend Barclays as an employer (67% of volunteers
compared with 58% of non-volunteers).
Employee volunteering is also a well known tool for team
building. 49% of managers saw employer supported
volunteering as “very effective as a team building exercise”,
while a further 39% rated it as “quite effective”.
2/7/09 11:47:23
 12 Employer-supported volunteering in the civil service Why encourage employee volunteering?

Department for Work & Pensions – 4) Leading by example

Community 5000 For many years, the Government has been trying to
encourage a culture of volunteering. This is demonstrated
Community 5000 gives DWP staff the opportunity to
by initiatives such as the investment of £117million in
volunteer their time and skills to a local voluntary
youth volunteering charity ‘v’ to create a ‘step change’ in
or community organisation which is linked to
young people’s attitude to volunteering, as well as by my
DWP’s customers. For the participant it is a single
own appointment as the Prime Minister’s Volunteering
working day paid for by the department with full
Champion. Yet, if the Government is serious about building
reimbursement of reasonable expenses.
this culture of volunteering, then it must lead by example.
So far, DWP have worked with over 300 organisations Civil servants and ministers must volunteer and be seen to
across the UK on small placements. For example, be volunteering.
individual staff members have helped out in charity
shops and shopped for the aged. They have also HM Revenue and Customs
volunteered at large events such as Older Persons’
HMRC run one of the most comprehensive
Day. The activities are varied but, in the main, all
volunteering programmes in the civil service.
involve working, in some way, with their customers.
Responsibility lies with the Corporate Responsibility
Over 5,000 staff have already experienced a team, along with a network of around 20 volunteer
Community 5000 day, with some making it an coordinators in the various business units. HMRC
annual commitment. All evaluation shows that staff have begun to develop a number of innovative
believe the experience to be beneficial and they local schemes that focus on engaging with
certainly share the experiences with their colleagues deprived communities, which present HMRC as an
on their return to work. Feedback from the Third approachable, customer focused organisation, such
Sector is also equally positive, with many smaller as the Birmingham case study below:
charities highlighting that, without our help, they
could not have achieved their objectives. The DWP Birmingham Outreach Project
have 300 senior civil servants, of which 59.3% have
The Tax Credit Birmingham Office have launched an
attended a Community 5000 event. There is also
Outreach Project to promote tax credits to residents
anecdotal evidence that the Community 5000 day
in areas with a low take-up. The locations are based
inspires staff to volunteer in their own time.
on research by HMRC’s Knowledge, Analysis and
The Department intends to continue with the Intelligence (KAI) team, which identified the areas
initiative, extending their partnership base with with the lowest take-up of tax credits.
the third sector and providing more opportunities,
“Our aim is to talk to customers in disadvantaged
including offering “taster” days designed to
locations, particularly where levels of child poverty
encourage staff to try out a specific volunteering
are high,” said Cheryl Woodruff, assistant director.
activity. A recent internal survey has indicated
“We want to help those people, so we need to find
that up to 18% of staff would be interested in
out who isn’t claiming the benefits they are entitled
volunteering on a Community 5000 day. Their long
to, and why.”
term aim is to ensure that all who want to give a
day are given the opportunity to do this, and to
build positive and sustainable partnerships.

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HMRC staff spoke to 1,336 customers in Birmingham
during the four-day event. Some were young men
who had no idea they could claim Working Tax
Credit because they didn’t have children – even
though they were earning £12,000 a year or less.
Birmingham’s cultural diversity means language is
also a barrier for some people. So HMRC made sure
there were staff who could speak languages such
as Urdu and Gujarati at each location throughout
the event.
“It was great to give HMRC a face and let customers
know we do other things apart from tax people,”
says Nicky Green, a TCO quality frontline manager
who spoke to customers in across all locations
during the four days. “We do give money to
customers who really need it, which did surprise a
few people.”
The event led to 44 new Child and Working Tax
Credit claims and 10 Child Benefit claims. The next
step is to look more closely at the results from
Birmingham, before deciding whether to roll out
other similar events across the country.
5) Benefits for communities
Finally, employee volunteering can bring benefits to the
communities and third sector organisations that host the
volunteers. This may seem obvious, but Government needs
to remember that volunteering should benefit communities.
During the course of my research, I encountered several
stories from volunteer involving organisations of employee
volunteering episodes that actually did more harm than
good. Usually these were one-off events that seemed to be
more concerned with outcomes for the participants than for
the ‘beneficiaries’. It does seem that continued engagement
with organisations is far more productive than these
episodic events.
13526 Baroness Neuberger 4th.indd 13
Why encourage employee volunteering? 13
When it is done well, employee volunteering can bring
enormous benefits directly to beneficiaries. Civil servants
can be highly skilled individuals with much expertise
to give. In addition, employee volunteering can bring
many benefits to the broader volunteering agenda. It
can act as a catalyst, encouraging individuals who have
not previously volunteered to become further involved
in their communities. Research by IVR on Barclays’ Bank
volunteering scheme found that 21% of participants had
never previously volunteered and 47% were not regularly
taking part in volunteering. 34% of volunteers went on to
undertake other community activities outside work time.
Department for International
Development – ACBI Leadership
Mentoring Scheme
The Leadership Mentoring Scheme developed by
Department for International Development (DFID)
as part of the Africa Capacity Building Initiative
(ACBI), has been designed to establish and support
mentoring relationships between the most senior
civil servants from the UK and from Africa.
The ACBI, which is being taken forward by a
Working Group comprising representatives
of Whitehall Departments and the devolved
administrations, was established to coordinate UK
Government efforts to build capacity in Africa and
to share UK public sector skills and knowledge with
African governments.
The Working Group and DFID have now developed
a Leadership Scheme designed to play a key role
in meeting the objective of the ACBI by setting up
and supporting a series of mentoring partnerships
between senior civil servants in the UK and their
counterparts in Africa. The primary purpose of the
Scheme is to enhance the leadership skills of those
involved, and to share experience of leadership
development in government.
2/7/09 11:47:23
 14 Employer-supported volunteering in the civil service Why encourage employee volunteering?

DFID want to involve UK Permanent Secretaries and

Directors General in the Scheme, which will initially
be run in Ethiopia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Liberia and
Zambia; and we are looking to set up at least two
mentoring partnerships in each country. The Scheme
may be expanded, in respect of both the numbers
and the countries involved, if it proves successful. The
Scheme will also include other aspects of leadership
development such as seminars and wider networking
and it will be able to facilitate, to a limited degree,
wider links between African Ministries and their
UK equivalents through arranging and supporting
technical assistance projects that might flow from
the mentoring relationship.

A consortium of managing consultants has been

appointed to develop and manage the Scheme
and they have now visited all five countries and
drawn up a short-list of African participants. The
UK Permanent Secretaries and Directors General
participants now need to be identified.

For each partnership, an initial video-conference

between the two participants is envisaged,
to discuss and agree the basis on which the
partnership will operate. Three meetings between
the partners will follow – probably over an eighteen
month period (one in Africa and two in the UK).
Although the participants may wish to set their own
pattern of contacts, it is recommended that the first
face-to-face meeting is a visit by the UK participant
to Africa. This will enable the UK participant to
understand better the context and environment in
which their partner is working.

Although there are some advantages in matching

participants from the same sectors in government,
DFID will not be looking to do that in all cases – the
Scheme is primarily about leadership development,
rather than about providing policy advice which
may not easily transfer. There is, therefore,
flexibility in the choice of possible partners.

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What are the problems?
So, whilst I have found a positive and improving picture
of employee volunteering in the civil service, I have also
found that there are two ongoing challenges in relation to
employee volunteering becoming fully operational, and to
communicating what the civil service does effectively.
1) Lack of buy-in
If employee volunteering is to become fully operational
within the civil service, and bring about the real business
benefits outlined above, then it needs the buy-in and
support from several levels within departments. A
fundamental barrier in allowing employee volunteering to
become fully integrated is a lack of endorsement from the
relevant tiers of authority, be that departmental, corporate/
HR or within line management structures. I will deal with
each in turn. As well as a lack of buy-in, there is a parallel
problem, of a lack of resources, to be addressed.
Departmental
Certain Government departments are currently not
persuaded of the merits of employee volunteering,
particularly foreign focused and smaller departments.
There are inevitable challenges for smaller departments in
all this, as they lack the economies of scale and resources
that allow larger departments to develop bespoke schemes.
However, some smaller departments have found imaginative
ways round a lack of resources, and underfunding
should not prevent a department from having a positive
volunteering policy.
Foreign orientated departments may think that the business
benefits that apply to other departments will not apply to
them. Yet the evidence suggests that all departments can
benefit from the learning and development opportunities,
and the morale boosting effect that volunteering can have.
And it is a fact that all policy-makers have stakeholders.
In my view, engagement with the communities they
serve can only enhance civil servants’ ability to make and
deliver policy.
13526 Baroness Neuberger 4th.indd 15
What are the problems? 15
Corporate services/Human resources
If employee volunteering is to become fully integrated
across a department, it needs the full buy-in from the HR or
another corporate unit. I have found examples of excellent
volunteer practice in many sections of HR. For example,
in learning and development teams or equality and
diversity. I have also found excellent examples in Corporate
Responsibility units. However, locating responsibility within
policy teams, most notably those with a responsibility for
third sector issues, does sometimes take place, and this
is really a non-starter in terms of developing long-term
sustainable volunteering practice. Whilst it may be useful as
a stop-gap measure, if employee volunteering is really going
to be rolled out, and bring the benefits outlined above, it
needs to be taken on as a corporate responsibility.
I have come across some wonderful examples of HR
units and other corporate teams who understand what
volunteering can do to enhance the capabilities of their
department. In the most successful examples, they are
attempting to mainstream it into the very business of
the department. They have written a clear and positive
volunteering policy. Staff are encouraged to find
volunteering opportunities that are aligned with their
professional development needs, and line managers are
encouraged to allow their staff to pursue these activities. If
they have the resources, they may offer a brokerage service
or develop bespoke schemes for staff.
However, some HR units give no priority whatsoever to
volunteering and are not convinced of its benefits. In
many cases, the volunteering brief is simply tagged on to
someone’s job. Often this staff member is not told why they
should be developing an employee volunteering strategy at
all, so the role is simply seen as a burden. Departments with
this approach may pay lip-service to employee volunteering,
but if they do not invest time and energy in it, they will
receive remarkably few of the benefits.
2/7/09 11:47:23
 16 Employer-supported volunteering in the civil service What are the problems?
So I am eager to see the rationale for employee volunteering
explained better to these HR departments, as well as to
the staff that assume responsibility for its implementation.
The constructive approach that has been adopted over the
past year does seem to have had a positive impact, but if
we really want to create a sustainable step change in the
way that the civil service approaches volunteering, then this
needs to be communicated to HR units more convincingly.
Line managers
The buy-in of line managers is a prerequisite for staff
actually being released to volunteer, and sometimes, even in
the most supportive departments, this can be a challenge.
It is line managers that have to provide coverage when staff
do volunteer, so unsuprisingly it is often seen as a burden.
Line managers need to be helped, in some way, to see that
employee volunteering, when done correctly, will actually be
in the long-term interests of their staff, by providing them
with improved skills and abilities to do their job, or boost
their team morale.
If line managers are really to buy in to the benefits of
volunteering then, once again, the instructive approach
demanding that line managers release their staff to go on
some unspecified ‘volunteering day’ will only get us so far.
If we want line managers really to get on board, then a
more sophisticated approach is needed. Volunteering should
be advocated as a development activity that allows staff
members to gain the skills and insight needed to do their
jobs more effectively. Managers should use volunteering
to develop skills where gaps have been identified in staff’s
performance appraisals. Volunteering should be seen as
an alternative, often more practical, version of training.
Of course, some line managers could adopt this approach
independently, but for this approach really to be effective,
it needs to be embedded and advocated by the corporate
team responsible for employee volunteering.
13526 Baroness Neuberger 4th.indd 16
2) Communicating what the civil
service does
Thus far, I have addressed the issues to do with rolling out
employee volunteering fully in the civil service. However,
even if it became operationally perfect, the question remains
of how, if Government wants to lead by example, it should
communicate its employee volunteering to the general
public outside Government.
People often argue that the private sector is way ahead of
the public sector in terms of employee volunteering. This
is not to say that volunteering levels are actually higher
in the private sector. Indeed, anecdotally, it would appear
that volunteering levels are higher in the public and third
sectors, and that public sector employers are more willing
to accomodate self-organised volunteering duties amongst
their staff. But the private sector appears to have more
branded volunteering programmes, and they are certainly
better at marketing what they do. Their volunteering
programmes are usually part of a broader CSR strategy,
which has reputation and brand management at its
very core.
Meanwhile, it seems that the civil service is less forthcoming
about promoting the employee volunteering schemes that
do exist. As a public interest organisation, the presumption
exists that there is no need to prove that it is a responsible
organisation. There may even be a fear that marketing
our employee volunteering could possibly turn out to be
counter-productive, as the public may regard civil servants’
time spent on voluntary activities, and not getting on with
the job in hand, as a waste of tax-payers’ money.
However, as explored earlier, the perception still exists of a
‘Whitehall ivory tower’ that does not fully understand or
engage with the communities it serves. There is still a need,
even within public interest organisations, that those who
govern should be seen to be governing responsibly. Any
negative perceptions of wasted tax-payers’ money can be
counteracted by the positive perception that civil servants
might actually understand their communities better.
2/7/09 11:47:24

Conclusions and recommendations
From this analysis, it appears that the case for employee
volunteering in the civil service is seriously compelling.
However, if the benefits that it can bring are to be fully
realised, this case needs to be made to all levels of
management in all departments. The message needs
to continue to come right from the top, from the Prime
Minister, Ministers, the Cabinet Office and Permanent
Secretaries. Thus far these messages have been espoused
effectively by some particularly at the very top, and I have
heard many positive reports about the volunteering group
that is administered by the Cabinet Office. But more work
needs to be done. Other tiers of authority, lower down the
system, need to understand why they are being asked to
implement such changes.
The perenial issue of a lack of resources has been raised
frequently with me. Both in terms of the costs of setting
up schemes and with the cost of releasing staff, and with
further funding cuts now looming on the horizon, this will
become all the more pertinent. Yet volunteering can be a
great source of training, team building and development
for staff. The civil service is already acknowledged as a
great provider of training, an organisation that invests in its
employees’ future. Some departments are now beginning
to acknowledge this training role and they are allocating
parts of their training budget to sourcing or developing
volunteering opportunities in line with employees’
performance objectives. I really think that training and
development budgets are the key source of funding for
employee volunteering schemes.
This begs the question as to why other departments do
not also recognise these benefits and invest some of their
own training and development budgets in volunteering.
Perhaps departments would be more willing to put
resources in if volunteering placements were renamed
‘community learning placements’. I often hear claims that
volunteering has an image problem more generally and that
we should stop using the term ‘volunteering’ altogether.
I find such arguments unconvincing. People understand
the term ‘volunteering’, so any gain we might acheive
13526 Baroness Neuberger 4th.indd 17
Conclusions and recommendations 17
through a name change, we would lose through a lack of
comprehension. However, in this one case, within the civil
service, I think there may be the bare bones of a justification
for some renaming.
On the resouces point, it is important to state that a good
employee volunteering scheme can cost very little. All it
really needs, at its most basic level, is a corporate staff
resource who can write a positive and sensible volunteering
policy, promote that same policy, and monitor and approve
volunteering placements. Managers and staff can then find
their own volunteering placements on an individual basis.
However, departments should remember that there is a
resource cost for organisations that are hosting volunteers.
In addition, such an arrangement would not be a useful
means of procuring ‘team challenge’ events and bespoke
schemes. And, if departments want their staff really to
make the most of their alloted volunteering leave, then it
is worth investing some resources to develop such schemes
and provide a brokerage service. This sort of service can be
outsourced from volunteering organisations such as Time &
Talents at the Volunteer Centre Westminster for as little as
£5000 per year. I have even come across departments where
members of staff are volunteering to set up these schemes.
For example, the DIUS volunteering programme is run by a
group of fast-streamers. The DfT mentoring scheme involved
some set-up work, but it is now largely self-managed by the
volunteers themselves. A huge amount can be done with a
little imagination and a large dollop of enthusiasm.
There is also the seperate issue of how the Government
can actually lead by example, by promoting the employee
volunteering that is taking place, and by telling the
story of volunteering in the civil service to the outside
world. The civil service can learn many lessons from the
private sector in this area. I have come across some truly
innovative schemes, and I really think more could be done
to promote these initiatives to the public. It is no business
of government what its employees do in their spare time.
Promoting the fact that they volunteer is not something
that the Government should be taking credit for. But I
2/7/09 11:47:24
 18 Employer-supported volunteering in the civil service Conclusions and recommendations
would like to see the Government promoting the innovative
practice that has taken place in employee volunteering,
and celebrating the benefits that it has brought, which
might in turn encourage other organisations to implement
such programmes.
I would therefore like to make the following
recommendations:
1) The Cabinet Office Volunteering group
should continue and be provided with
adequate resources
The central support and networking opportunities that have
been provided by this group have received very positive
reviews. It needs to continue. One of the key advantages
is that, unlike previous attempts, the group is located in
the Civil Service Capabilities Group and has access to the
relevant HR networks and contacts, which are so crucial,
and has corporate rather than policy expertise. It has
suffered from a lack of adauqate staff resource. I would like
to see a part time resource at least dedicated to supporting
the group.
There is also scope for other Government departments to
lead many of these central strands of work. The Cabinet
Office group should have more of a co-ordinating and
facilitating role. For example, I would like to see a series
of seminars take place on overcoming the challenges
outlined above, such as getting line managers’ buy in. These
seminars could be led by departments which have actually
managed to overcome them.
13526 Baroness Neuberger 4th.indd 18
2) Central guidance should continue
to be produced on how to write a
volunteering policy, how to set up
bespoke schemes/brokerage, and
which outside organisations could be
approached
The Cabinet Office has already begun to provide this kind
of central resource and it has proved invaluable. It makes
things much easier for any government agencies that are
starting from scratch, and avoids the reinvention of the
wheel. Whilst this guide would be coordinated by the
Cabinet Office group, large parts of it could be written by
departments who have already succeeded in these areas
3) An internal promotion campaign
across government should be
implemented to demonstrate the
benefits of volunteering
As I have stated repeatedly throughout this report, the case
for volunteering needs to be sold to all tiers of authority in
the civil service. Otherwise, it will be seen as a burden and
will never become sustainable.
The Cabinet Office could coordinate such a campaign, but
contributions need to come from other key government
departments. The campaign could include activities such as
stalls in Government buildings, lunchtime seminars and a
presence at key events such as Civil Service Live.
2/7/09 11:47:24

4) All departments should have some
sort of employer supported volunteering
scheme in place by 2011
Working on the promotion and resources that will be
developed over the next year, all Government departments
should have a scheme in place by 2011. Ideally I would
like to see this rolled out across all government agencies
(local government, NDPBs, PCT’s and others) by 2012. As
I outlined earlier, this does not necessarily have to cost
anything bar some staff time, although the inclusion of
more resource intensive brokerage/bespoke schemes
makes such programmes more exciting and often more
sustainable. Indeed, investing in a more comprehensive
volunteering scheme would allow staff to make more of
their volunteering leave.
5) All civil servants should be given up
to 5 days off per year to volunteer
Although I believe that the instructive approach will only get
you so far, the strong central message that has been sent
out over the past year has been effective. Building on this,
I would like to see an announcement guaranteeing that all
civil servants should be allowed up to 5 days off to take part
in volunteering.
I understand that there may be some departments that are
concerned about the cost implications of such a proposal,
and a costing exercise would need to be completed.
However, it should be remembered that take-up will not be
100%. In fact, evidence from the private sector indicates
that even the best companies are lucky to achieve 30%. It
must also be remembered that the costs will be offset by
enhanced staff development and morale.
13526 Baroness Neuberger 4th.indd 19
Conclusions and recommendations 19
6) Volunteering should be encouraged
as part of employees’ personal
development plans
The implementation of this recommendation is crucial to
employee volunteering becoming mainstreamed within the
civil service. I do not mean that employees should be shown
to have volunteered as some tick-box exercise, but, during
the course of this review, I have been struck by the benefits
that volunteering can bring to staff development. When a
training need is identified by a manager, then volunteering
should be advocated as a way of developing those skills,
in the same way as traditional training courses. Even if
there are no specific schemes in place, employees can be
encouraged to find their own opportunity, and be allowed
time off to complete it (in the same way as they would be
allowed to with a training course)
7) Civil service employee volunteering
schemes should be promoted by
Communications departments
There is far more scope to promote existing schemes to
the media. I would even like to see communications teams
taking a role in the development of some schemes (as they
do in the private sector). Some of the programmes I have
come across are quite innovative, and could easily provide
the vital human interest angle that the media craves. These
are good news stories that could boost departments’
reputations, and encourage other organisations to set up
similar schemes – a good news story for Government!
2/7/09 11:47:24
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